The Demystified Diaper Dilemma

The funk came back. I thought it was a goner, but the funk came back...

I discussed my particular issues with my local diaper experts and they said they thought that my diapers just weren't getting enough water in the rinse to get all of the detergent out. When you don't get all of the detergent out, you get ammonia buildup in diapers = stink! This is a common problem with high efficiency washing machines. The usual "fix" is to throw a wet towel in with the diapers to add weight to the machine and trick it into adding more water.

I had tried doing that (along with nixing the "spin" in my prerinse cycle), but I was still having trouble.

Not only that, but some of my diapers have kind of yellowish brown patches on them that particularly seem to stink. And no, it's not poop. That was a little more mystifying than the smell. Not even the experts were sure of what that was. You can kind of see what I'm talking about on the diaper on the right.



I also picked up some Rockin Green detergent. It's maybe the most popular detergent amongst cloth diaper users because it rinses clean, is all natural, gentle, smells great, and it has cute little gimmicky scent names (Motley Clean, Smashing Watermelons, Barenaked Babies), etc. I thought that since my detergent wasn't rinsing out, maybe a more clean rinsing version would do better.



Then my washing machine died. Lovely, but it might be the best thing that has happened to my diaper routine because I think I've figured out the problem.

The machine wasn't letting enough water in. Even for an HE machine, it wasn't letting enough water in. And it was cutting off in the middle of the rinse cycle. Not only that, but when the repair guy came, he detached the hose that lets water into the machine to check the water pressure, and the clean water that was going into the machine was BROWN! (Umm...hello brown patches on diapers!) Ah the joys of well water! They are supposed to repair it today and I will be anxious to see what kind of difference it makes.

In the meantime we have been back in disposables and back to leaky nighttime ("12 hour"...yeah right!) diapers. Not only that, but I've had dirty diapers sitting in the pail for 3 days now and that is driving me absolutely nuts. I can't wait for it to be fixed!

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Teething Schmeething

A certain little someone is working on tooth #3 this week and though he looks and grabs at the bottle of teething tablets like some kind of crack fiend, they just don't seem to be totally taking care of the pain.  I think tooth #4 is right around the corner too (seriously?!  He's not even 6 months old!).

Anybody have any experience with Baltic amber teething necklaces? I haven't seen a single review of them that isn't positive, but I don't know if any of my "real life" friends have any experience with them.  I would prefer to use something natural than to dope him up.

Don't let this sweet face fool you...he bites!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Ever notice how much vanilla extract costs and how quickly it disappears?  Maybe it only disappears so quickly here because I'm married to the world's best waffle maker, but it seems like there's only enough in one of those little bottles to make a few desserts.

As it turns out, it's really simple to make your own.

See exhibit A:

What you need:

• Some sort of bottle that seals (we got ours at Hobby Lobby, isn't it cute?)
• Cheap vodka (we used a couple of cups)
• Whole vanilla beans (we used 5)

Now in order to do this, you are going to have to get over your fear of running into some of your fellow church members at the liquor store.  Some of y'all know what I'm talking about!

Vanilla beans can be pricey, so you might want to find a place that sells them in bulk or order them online.  If you're wondering why they're so expensive, it's because all of the growing and harvesting of the beans has to be done by hand.  Isn't it strange to think that in this day and age, there are still crops that are handled without the use of machinery?

I digress.

1. Wrangle your vanilla beans onto a cutting board and cut a slit all the way down the bean.
2. Drop the beans into your cute little bottle.
3. Pour in enough vodka to cover the beans.
4. Close the bottle and shake it up.
5. Store in a dark cupboard and take it out to shake it up every now and then.
6. As you use it, top it off every now and then with more vodka.  You can reuse the same beans in this way for awhile.

Within a couple of weeks, it should be ready to use!  When we first made it, the color was a light brown,but the picture was taken after about 2 weeks and you can see how dark it had gotten.  It has been about a month now and it's even better.

If you look around on Pinterest, you can find some variations on doing this, and some free printable labels for the bottle (very cute ones!).

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The Self Sufficient HomeAcre

In Which I Conquer my Fear of Diaper Stripping

You may recall that I'm terrified of having to strip diapers. Well you know what happens when you announce something like that publicly? Yep. I had to strip diapers last week.

Apparently you're supposed to strip diapers from time to time to help get rid of any mineral/ammonia/detergent that has built up in the diapers over time. We were over five months in and I had never stripped them. It was a good run.

If you Google stripping diapers, you will see that there are a million different ways it can be done. What works for one person may yield dismal results for another person. There are many factors to consider when figuring out how best to strip your diapers. Do you have hard or soft water? A traditional or HE washing machine? Do your diapers smell funny straight out of the wash? Do they smell poopy/fishy/ammonia-y?

I mean they're diapers. A care routine shouldn't be this complicated.

I wasn't really sure what I was dealing with, but The Baby Fish was starting to get some red patches in his diaper area, there was a weird smell that I just couldn't put my finger on (not poopy, not ammonia-y, just kind of moldy) when I took the diapers out of the washer, and his first diapers in the morning could fell a horse. I figured the morning diaper thing was just because he sleeps for 12 hours at night (please don't let me jinx myself) and nothing about 12 hour old warm pee SHOULD smell good, but the other issues were nagging at me.

I called my trusty diaper store and they suggested these two products:



The Bac-Out has live enzymes that eat up organic matter that is in the diaper and the Funk Rock is a natural ammonia bouncer.

Before I used those things, I attempted stripping them with blue Dawn dish soap. I was a little scared that I would come back to suds cascading out of the machine and down the stairs, so I didn't use very much.

I didn't notice any difference in the diapers after using it.

Then I tried the Funk Rock. Still no difference.

Then I tried the Bac-Out. I tried it once in the washer and didn't notice a difference. Then I dumped all of the diapers in the bathtub and soaked them in hot water with a good amount of Bac-Out overnight. In the morning, I washed them as usual (you really want to make sure you've rinsed all of the Bac-Out from the diapers before putting them on the baby so the enzymes don't attack the baby's skin). Still stinky.

So I did what I've heard you're never supposed to do.

I used bleach.

Bleach will void some diaper warranties, so I don't necessarily suggest it, but I did remove all of my diapers that have PUL before using bleach, so I was left with prefolds and a few fitteds. Then I rinsed, rinsed, rinsed.

It did the trick! Even that strong early morning pee smell is GONE. (I seriously stuck my head in the diaper pail the other morning to make sure and I couldn't smell anything! Ha!)

I've since read that using up to 1/4 cup of bleach in the wash once a month or so will not void most warranties, so I may do it every now and then just to keep them fresh.

In the meantime, I am going to try using the Bac-Out and the Funk Rock occasionally to try to keep buildup down.

I will say that we turned to disposables for a few days while I experimented with all of these stripping techniques and I was so glad to be back in cloth when it was all over. If you've only ever used 'sposies, you probably don't notice the chemical + pee smell, but I challenge you to use cloth for a little bit and then go back to disposables. It really is a strong chemical odor. The little trashbag of wet disposables that had only been sitting for one day was almost nauseating. His newly stripped diapers could sit wet in his room for two days and you wouldn't even know they were there.

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Babywearing

As it turns out, I do other things besides cloth diaper.  You were wondering, right?

Anyway, we recently picked up a Snuggybaby ring sling for 50% off (whoo hoo!), and The Baby Fish loves it!  He has been a nosy curious baby since the moment he bungee jumped his way out of me and into the world.  I think he enjoys being worn because it keeps him up and in the thick of things.  Now that he is practicing sitting up, he especially likes it.  It's pretty simple to use and it fits in the diaper bag.  He can also nurse in it (although he gets REALLY distracted).

We have a Moby Wrap too, and it has its merits, but if you think it's your only option, do not be deceived.  I feel like the Moby is kind of like the "Kleenex" of baby wearing.  You know how people say they need a Kleenex when they really just mean they need a tissue?   If you want to wear your baby, you might think you need a Moby, but what you really need is just some kind of carrier.

The thing about the Moby is that it's like a million feet long.  I'm only slightly exaggerating.  If you're really good at wrapping it, I'm sure the length isn't a big deal, but when you are in an airport, for instance, and the stupid thing is touching the filthy ground as you wrap it because it's a million feet long, and then you have to put your baby in it?  It's a little annoying and it requires an extra set of hands (if you're me).  The other drawback is that its million-foot-longness makes it ridiculous to try to stuff in a diaper bag.

On the other hand, it is very versatile and comfortable because it distributes the baby's weight beautifully.  I think it's one of those things that is worth waiting until your baby is born and trying out before you buy it.  I suggest visiting your local mom and pop baby store and trying out several different types of baby wearing apparati before committing.  None of it is cheap, so you want to know you and your baby will like it and that it will suit your body type before shelling out the money.   Since they are washable, buying used is also a great option.

The airport example wasn't hypothetical...




I came across this article on baby wearing tips this week.  I thought it was interesting, so I'm linking it here for my own reference as much as anything else.  There are ways to screw it up (besides letting your kid fall out of it).  We are still new at this so if you have your own tips, share them!

As an aside, check out Sarah's link up for lots of cool stuff!

It Doesn't Get Much Cheaper than Free!

If you're interested in cloth diapering, subscribe to some cloth diapering blogs.  There are always giveaways out there.  Here's a giveaway for newborn diapers, cloth wipes, and a wetbag via a blog hop. Look around and you'll find tons more, plus tutorials on how to make your own diapers, covers, wetbags, you name it!

I'm considering taking my fear of wool on and attempting to make my own wool cover this weekend.  If I do, I will keep you apprised.  If it's easy, I might make several (the more I read about wool, the easier it seems to use it--- but I think I'd have to use several to make it worthwhile.  More on that later).

Prepping

If you're going to be using natural fiber diapers, you will want to prep your diapers before you use them.

Prepping involves washing and drying the diapers several times before you use them to remove natural oils and help the fabric gain absorbency.  You will want to use a small amount of detergent at least the first couple of times to help remove the oils.  After that, you don't really have to use detergent.  I didn't know that, so I used detergent each time.  Either way works.

If you're using cotton prefolds, your diapers will come out of the package nice and flat and smooth, but when they are fully prepped, they will shrink some and quilt up and look like this...





The more you wash/dry them, the more pee they'll hold.  I think I washed mine 6-7 times before I called it good.

I have a few hemp diapers too, and while they also need to be prepped, they will not quilt up like the ones in the picture.  I found that I didn't wash them as many times to prep them (maybe just because I was so over prepping by the point that we introduced hemp into our stash).  You'll notice that hemp takes a long time to dry.  It gets better once they're fully prepped!  Hemp just holds a lot more liquid than cotton, so the drying time will be different.  Now that mine are fully prepped, they dry in the same amount of time as my cotton diapers.  I don't know how that happened, but I'm not complaining.

If you want to use cloth and you haven't had your baby yet, I highly recommend doing the prepping before the baby comes.  Trust me when I say that washing the same clean load of laundry over and over again 6 times is not going to be your idea of a good time when you're dealing with a newborn and all of the challenges that come along with adjusting to a new baby.  You'll just be happy if you have any clean clothes to put on your own body and you won't want to waste your precious time and energy on prepping.  At least that's how it went for me.

If your baby is already here, you can wash the diapers with some of your regular laundry when prepping them provided you are using cloth diaper safe laundry detergent and your clothes can be washed in hot water. Also, remember, NO FABRIC SOFTENER!  In fact, if your clothes have fabric softener in them from a previous wash, I wouldn't wash diapers with them.  That may be a little extreme, but we are completely fabric softener free now because I'm terrified of having to strip diapers.  Like I needed a new phobia...